Erebath Uan An Le
by Silraen
Summary: When at last Aragorn is leaving to travel with the Fellowship, he decides that it would be better if Arwen sails West rather than take the chance that he might die fighting against the forces of Mordor. Written by Silraen and Navana Extended TT movieverse


Erebath Uan An Le

**~Written by Silraen and Navana~**

Grey clouds shaded the sun over the valley of Imladris, as far beneath the heavens, the birds twittered in the boughs of the autumn trees. The richly painted world folded itself about the elvenrefuge. Red and golden leaves scattered themselves over the ground and blew through the passageways, down the stairs and through the courtyards, all of which bustled with activity in the early morning.

Above the courtyard nearest the exit of the valley, Aragorn son of Arathorn donned his necessities as he stepped silently down the steps that lead away from his beloved childhood home. The hiss of the steel of his blade as it fell into the sheath rent the air. This was to be the beginning of the ending of his great journey, and he knew this all too well.... _She stays for you... She belongs with her people..._ the words of Lord Elrond rung through his thoughts.

"Is this how you would take your leave?" came a soft voice from behind him...a voice that seemed to linger sweetly in the air; the beautiful, clear melodies that he knew so well in her awashed his mind with joy, but that joy was soon swept away.

Lost so deeply in thought, Aragorn nearly did not hear her, save the joy he had briefly felt. This was likely the last time he would see the valley that raised him...and possibly the last he would see of the one person that he loved more than life itself, for through her, life flourished. Through her, peace was attainable. And through her, he knew what love truly was... _Let her go..._ Through all his love for her, he still heard the voice of Lord Elrond.

When he did not answer her right away, she began to walk around him. "Did you think you could slip away at first light - unnoticed?" She was smiling as she came to stand before him, and her depthless eyes of wisdom and grace shone. A moment of brief silence passed between them and her smile faded when he did not look up to meet her gaze. _"Meleth nin?"_ she asked softly.

Without a word, he stilled his steps, his eyes daring to glance into her ethereal depths. _"U-immuva no teli dan..."_ he allowed the words to slide from his lips as his eyes, too, fell once more. {I will not be coming back.}

As he began to walk away from her, Arwen turned to follow him, concern alighting her eyes. "You underestimate your skill in battle. You will come back to me. You always have." She walked beside him and she laid her hand briefly on his shoulder. Always had Aragorn tred the paths of darkness and shadow, and always he feared that he would never return to her, and yet, he always did. From afar, she watched over him when he was traveling along roads that led him so far from all that he loved, and always she lit the way for him, guiding him through the bitter rains of doubt and despair.

Yet there was a strange resolve that lingered in his voice. Though he had told her before of his fear of not returning, never had he seemed so truly sure...for there was another reason. _"U-ten na o gur ned dagor pedo..."_ {It is not of death in battle that I speak.}

At these words, she came around to stand before him once more, and her hand which had lingered on his shoulder now fell to his arm. She gazed into his eyes, seeking truth. "What do you speak of?"

Like the yearning of the earth for summer in the cold of winter, so dearly did long to reach to her, to feel her silken skin, to reassure her that this would not be their final parting, yet he could do her no comfort, not when such a heavy weight lay upon his mind. _The hardest gift to give her is to let her go... to save her... yet it is also the greatest..._

_"Legaro othlonn or auth... demna... caul..."_ {You have a chance for another life...away from war...grief...despair...}

Like the forceful, cold impact of snow on a warm, spring day, Arwen felt as if she had been so suddenly, so cruelly struck. As she searched his gaze, she asked in a low whisper, "Why are you saying this?"

The pain in her eyes nearly caused him to surrender, but no, he stood steadfast. "I am mortal...you are elfkind..." he murmured, his grasp tight about an unseen stronghold. "It was a dream, Arwen..." Within he felt himself breaking away, his heart shattering with the pain. "Nothing more."

"I don't believe you." And truly, she could not. Her voice trembled with pain, with hurt, as she spoke those words to him.

The words that sat on the tip of his tongue were suddenly choked back. The validity in her words struck him so deeply. How could he be doing this to her?

Yet he had to...he knew he had to. The loneliness that he had come to know over the long years of his life haunted him. He did not wish this for anyone, especially for the one person he loved more than the vastness of the heavens; and he would not have her come to the halls of Mandos, for she deserved to lived on, to be with her kin.

Very slowly, he allowed his fingers to release their tight grip, his palm turning up. With his free hand, he reached to hers, the touch filling him with melancholy bliss, his heart torn swiftly asunder. Yet, he had already begun it, and he had to finish. From the folds of his fingers, the glittering light of the Evenstar emerged. "This belongs to you."

She looked from his eyes to gaze down at the pendant...the pendant of her love for him...the one piece of jewelry that not only defined her as the one daughter of Elrond and Celebrian, but it truly was her essence. In gifting this to him, she had given him her everything; her hope, her trust, her love.

Arwen stood completely still and several heartbeats passed in which she only looked down upon it in silence. And then, "Nay." She took a step back from him, the light of anger reflecting in her blue pools of pain. "You cannot be doing this. Long have I known you, Aragorn. Can you truly look me in the eyes and say that you no longer love me? That you are willing to forget all that has happened between us?" Her voice shook, and though she spoke in a low whisper, it seemed to ring off the stone walls of the courtyard.

He could hear the pain in her voice, and it only reflected the pain in his heart. Already he had averted his eyes to the ground beneath his feet. Yet she stood on the same ground, and the lands they both loved spread about them. They loved it for what it was to each, their home away from the darkness, but more, it was there they had found the greatest miracle in the still evening. At her challenge, he found that he could not even bear to look up into her eyes, let alone speak the words she knew he could not speak.

"Will you not answer me?" It was the first time she had ever spoken to him thus, and it hurt her so deeply. Tears welled in her eyes, but they would not fall.

"I cannot lie to you and tell you that I do not love you, Arwen," he murmured as his eyes lifted to face her. The pain that engraved itself into her features also chiseled deep into his heart.

"Then why say this to me? Why tell me that I have a chance for another life when all I want stands before me now?" Her voice still had not risen from a whisper, and though hurt and anger tore at her heart, she could see the pain in his own eyes, mirroring her very emotions.

"For I would not have you wait for me not to return," the fear that drove his heart spoke so openly. Though all the reasons Lord Elrond had given him still pressed against him, the greatest of all fears was the all too real chance that he would die or be taken by the shadow.

"I have bound myself to your fate. I had promised you in Lorien that I would give you my breath, my love, my self." She paused, then continued quietly, "If you were to fall into shadow, I would know it in an instant, and though I fear death, I would join you. Never could I find peace and contentment here in Middle-earth, and I know that I would never find joy in Eressea, if you were not by my side to share it with me." She drew in a breath and looked away, the tears had at last broken free. "And never could I love another. Never would I want to."

"But I _will_ not be your death, I cannot think that my death, a failure all alone, could destroy the most beautiful of all things the world possesses." As the words passed from his lips, they trembled. With a stilling breath, he finally spoke again; clear and unwavering. "My fate cannot be yours."

"It _is_ mine! I choose it to be mine." She turned her face to his, her tears, glinting like jewels that only served to enhance her beauty, trickled down her cheeks, but she did not pay them any heed. "No one, not you nor my father can choose it for me, Aragorn."

The striking wonder of her immaculate features in the dismal, grey of the morning overtook him. He too would give the world to be with her, but he would not chance her happiness for it. He would not chance allowing himself to be her downfall. _"Sen erebath uan an le, Undomiel... Uten na indant an le..."_ {This loneliness is not for you, Undomiel... It is not meant for you...}

"If it were not meant for me, then why would fate bring me to you?" she asked him softly.

Her words vanquished all the fight he had left within him. What was he to tell her? How could he dissuade her from loving him if he could not even dissuade himself? "Fate brought us together for fate saw it so right, but fates can change..." _I have to believe they can..._

"How can a love like ours fall so far from grace? How can a fate like ours change when we both know that it cannot?"

He wracked his mind for the answer, though through and through, he could not find a reason. Softly, he sighed, unsure of what else he could say. "I... I do not know, Arwen..." he mused as he slowly shook his head.

"Neither do I," she murmured softly. "That's why I do not think that it can."

Slowly, his grasp began to encircle the jewel once more. "The shores of Valinor are vast and fruitful, and so many things your heart, I know, desires await you there... And though I love you more that the greatness of the sea, I ask you, Undomiel, to take the ship, go to the refuge, and be at peace."

"If I were to leave and sail into the West with my father, my foreparents, my brothers...all my kin... To sail and to finally be with my mother, and to abide forever in a land that will never fade into legend as Middle-earth is destined to do so, I know that I would never truly live. I would be a shadow, drifting through the years, lost and so very alone, even though the ethereal beauty of Eressea and my family would surround me. I would never know happiness. I would never know peace. My peace can only be found in your arms.

"You know my heart, Estel, and indeed, my heart longs for my mother, and to hear the immortal calling of the sea...but those desires, I know, are not for my heart to revel in. My heart desires Eressea, but my soul longs for and desires the man who stands before me now. My soul longs for and desires _you."_

So swiftly Aragorn was overcome by her words. Though his mind told him to have her go, his heart, and more his soul, longed for her to stay. Always she had been his guiding light, and to stumble through the shadows in their darkest hour, alone and lost, would surely be his downfall. He could feel the distance he had placed between them fall to nothing, for all he had to do, always, was reach out, and she would be the hand he grasped. Through all, his stronghold against the world that pained him so had stood beside him, a shelter from the cold world. And here, he could no longer play his guise, he could not let her go.

With swift hands to mirror the swift leap of his heart, he reached to her hand, grasping it fully in his empty palm. The warmth of his touch only affirmed that this was what he lived for. "Forgive me, Arwen, my heart, my soul, my everything longs for your gentle touch, to hear your words, and to behold you as they do now. For that is what sustains me."

"I am yours," she whispered as she came forward into his arms, and her own encircled him. The tears which had long ceased to fall began to well in her eyes once more. Never did she wish to fight with him again. _"Im meleth le, Estel,"_ she whispered. "Im gordefuva." {I love you, Estel. I always will.}

Without another word, Aragorn brought her hand to his lips, the tears that nipped at his eyes drowning in a sea of sweet love. Gently, he kissed her hand, euphoria filling him.

Gently, Arwen leaned away from him so she could look into his eyes. Her fingers caressed a dark lock of his hair behind his ear, and she smiled. With her hand still within his, she pulled him with her into a secluded area of the courtyard, where none save the cooing doves could view them. "This morning, you will take your leave from me once more," she said softly, "yet remember that I am watching over you from afar, _meleth nin._ And I am and always will be here." She stood close to him and laid her free hand over his heart.

"Then I will go, for the sooner the days end, the sooner I _will_ return," he spoke as his once forlorn-looking features turned into a wide, radiant grin. "Though..." As the words elicited from his mouth he moved gradually closer, his hand still grasping hers.

"Though...what?" she asked him softly, tilting her face up to his.

"By the Valar, you are beautiful..." he breathed, his lips meeting hers with a wide smile.

She gave everything to him in the kiss; all of her hope, all of her trust in him, and all of her love that she felt so profoundly for him - everything. _Take this with you, my heart, and keep it with you until the day in which all out waitings and labors will finally be fulfilled, and you and I will dance amongst the stars till the morn dawns..._

And with every bit of him, he took in the moment, breathed it in. _You are my everything... This night cannot last forever, for you prove to me that the Shadow cannot win where love exists..._

Moments later their lips parted, and soon after, he departed to journey on to his destiny; far beyond the Misty Mountains and deep into the East, to the frontlines of war. But with him he bore not only the Evenstar pendant, a shining jewel that brought light to him in the darkest of hours, but also the hope that come the flight of the shadow from Middle-earth, everything he had fought four would be worth it, for they would be together until the ending of their days.

_finis_

Completed on:

11~21~03


End file.
